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Knoxville Chamber Partners with Vendor Registry

A unique alliance will create new revenue opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses.

Knoxville, TN (PRWEB) October 24, 2012

The Knoxville Chamber, named 2011 National Chamber of the Year, is always looking for cutting-edge ideas to enhance the benefits it offers its more than 2,000 members, especially ideas that help create new revenue opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses. A new relationship the organization has forged with start-up company Vendor Registry will do just that.

Through a strategic partnership, the Knoxville Chamber has negotiated preferred pricing for its members for the services of Vendor Registry, a new Knoxville-based company. Vendor Registry makes it easy to get registered and stay compliant with city and county government purchasing departments. A vendor simply fills out one business profile online, and then Vendor Registry facilitates the registration process with all the buyers the vendor selects. Vendors and suppliers also can subscribe to an email-based service that proactively notifies vendors of bid opportunities relevant to their businesses.

“Vendor Registry has really simplified the vendor registration process by taking it online as well as centralizing bid notifications” Mark Field, the Chamber's senior vice president explained. “This saves countless hours for businesses and unlocks priceless new sales leads,” Field said.

“City and county governments across the region represent untapped sales opportunities,” Field continued. “However, it is nearly impossible for the small business owner that wears many hats to meet all the different vendor registration requirements, much less to scour more than 100 government web sites and local newspapers daily for bid opportunities,” continued Field.

Online, centralized vendor registration and bid notifications reduce the risk, uncertainty and time commitment of working with city and county governments. “As small business owners ourselves, we built Vendor Registry to make life easier and more profitable for the business owner,” said Brian Strong, Cofounder and CEO of Vendor Registry and former regional director for Claris Networks. “There also is the double benefit of keeping our taxpayer dollars local,” Strong continued. Less than half of currently registered vendors in the Knoxville area are even Tennessee based companies, according to Vendor Registry research.

Vendor Registry is one of only two Platinum companies as rated by the East Tennessee Regional Accelerator Coalition (ETRAC). Strong's partners include software entrepreneur Chris Van Beke, local business leader Mike Carroll, former Claris Networks partner Wade Orloski, and Lewis Frazer, CEO of Wintellect and former CFO of Regal Entertainment.

About the Knoxville Chamber
The Knoxville Chamber is the region's leading business organization with more than 2,000 members that employ more than 276,000 individuals. More than 80 percent of Chamber members are small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. It fulfills its mission of Driving Regional Economic Prosperity by recruiting new businesses and supporting existing companies, and serves as the lead economic development agency in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley. The organization has an active government advocacy program and supports pro-business policies. Members receive marketing, networking, professional development benefits, and many other cost-effective services. For more information visit http://www.knoxvillechamber.com.